Indian Manuscripts - History of India

Our knowledge of our History comes through accounts and narrations, which were passed down through generations in either the oral or written format.

India is said to have the largest collection of manuscripts in the world scattered all across the country. Indian manuscripts were written in a variety of languages and scripts that have survived till today. These are in the Grantha, Devanagiri, Nandinagiri, and Telegu scripts and multiple languages. The heritage and history of India is well documented in these treasures.

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There is a big difference in the way we store information in the digital age and how the people of ancient India did it. Palm leaf was the most common form of paper. The center rib of a palm frond was removed leaving two strips. The strips were pressed flat and trimmed to one size before being smoothed down by sandpaper.

Scribes would use a sharp instrument to actually carve the writing into the surface of the leaf. The nearly invisible text was made visible by covering the leaf with a black pigment like carbon black. After the leaf was cleaned, the residue remained in these scratches and made the writing visible.

Watch this video to learn how knowledge has traveled and been preserved through generations in the Indian culture.

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